Beyond the Rifts
by Buggiedude2340
Summary: Vera, a rather lost, but still jolly eevee meets Skipper, a timid mudkip who wants desperately to form an exploration team. Follow these two as they journey through the world of pokemon, meeting new friends, challenges, and strange phenomena that all have to do with a tear in the dimensional fabrics. (Based on the idea of explorers of sky, but not the same story line.)
1. Enter Skipper

**Chapter 1:**

Timid words drifted in and out of Vera's mind, soft and gentle as the waves lapping at her feet. She swore there was sand on her tongue, and she needed it off. Now.

Heaving herself off the ground, she came face-to-face with a very shocked, very surprised mudkip. It must've been an extremely large one, because she met it at eye-level.

"Oh!" it cried, "You're awake!"

_It talked._

"Are you alright?" it asked, having regained its composure again. It seemed a bit calmer than one normally would be after finding a person unconscious on the beach.

Vera nodded, unsure of what to do in such an impossible situation.

The mudkip stepped closer, tilting its head curiously. "I-I didn't scare you did I?" it asked.

Shaking her head, Vera blinked to get a better look at herself. Was that fur around her neck? And she supposed she hadn't noticed earlier, but it felt pretty comfortable to be standing on all four feet. Honestly, she was more scared of the whole being-a-pokemon thing than the wimpy little mudkip in front of her.

"That's good!" the mudkip replied earnestly, "Oh, and I nearly forgot. I'm Skipper. What's your name?"

"Vera," she answered confidently. Now that she'd straightened all the early confusion out, she was ready to start cracking jokes again.

"Vera huh," the mudkip echoed before asking another question. "So, uh, where are you from, Vera?"

Smiling sheepishly, Vera looked out at the ocean and shrugged. "I don't know," she said.

"Oh, well, uh, I was just asking because you don't normally see eevee around here."

So that was what kind of pokemon she'd been turned into. Interesting.

Suddenly, Skipper was forced to the ground in front of Vera, and a half-wheeze half-cackle followed closely behind the thud of Skipper hitting the ground.

"Take that, wimp!" a koffing sneered. Beside him was a zubat fluttering his wings.

"Yeah, take that!" the zubat echoed.

Just as Skipper began pushing himself off the ground, Zubat swooped past him, yanking a necklace off him and flying away with the pendant dangling. Koffin followed closely behind, but not before flashing another condescending look at Skipper.

So pokemon partook in bullying too, Vera mused. But it wasn't really the time.

The mudkip next to her was trembling, and his black eyes were glassy and wet. Vera thought that if he asked her for help, there was absolutely no way she'd be able to resist that face.

"Um…" she started.

But Skipper was already facing her, a defiant look on his face. "Vera!" he began, "I hate to ask you this right now, but… but could you… could you help me get my treasure back?"

If she'd had hands, Vera would've patted Skipper's head, but she didn't, so she titled her own innocently and smiled to say, "Of course! I'll be your able-bodied right-hand-man!"

"Really?" Skipper said, suppressing a laugh, "You'll really help?"

"Naturally," Vera stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "I owe you one for waking me up."

"Um… ok!"

And with that, the two pokemon set into the beach cave, not at all wary of the rust-colored rocks that lined the entrance.

At the bottom of the cave lied a small sandbar with calm salt water lapping at its edges. At the end of a small peninsula, Koffing and Zubat were examining their prize.

"Halt!" cried Vera as she and Skipper entered the bottom cavern. It was gorgeous, and Vera felt a twinge of guilt for wanting to beat someone up in such a pretty place.

The two poison-types turned to face the two pokemon before them before bursting into laughter. Vera did not think this funny in the slightest. She was actually somewhat mortified that anyone would laugh in such a situation.

"It looks like the wimp found another loser to keep him company, eh, Skipper?" Koffin taunted.

"Give me back my treasure!" Skipper shouted, trying his best to sound brave. Were it not for the premise, Vera would have laughed at his feeble attempt. But she knew better than to poke fun at such a scaredy-cat.

"Oh? This is treasure?" Zubat said, swinging the pendant back and forth, "Well then, all the more reason to keep it, eh, Koffing?"

"Right you are," Koffing agreed.

Vera thought the two poison types were bumbling idiots and stared at them as such, with the same expression she might use were she cleaning up after another person's 'accident'. Opening her mouth, she inhaled to start speaking, but Skipper beat her to the punch.

"I asked you to give it back! It's _my_ treasure!" he yelled.

"And who said we needed to listen to you?" the gas pokemon teased, bouncy in the air.

Still wearing her disgusted expression, Vera leaned toward her friend and whispered, "If you try asking politely and they say no you'll have an excuse to attack first."

Skipper nearly leapt out of his skin when Vera handed him her nifty advice, but took up on it. "Please can I have my treasure back?" he tried.

"I don't know, can you?"

"May. I," Skipper corrected himself, grimacing in the same disdainful way Vera was. Geez those two poison types were idiots.

"The answer's no," Zubat haughtily replied. His wings flapped furiously, and Vera was sure they were flapping faster than before. Suddenly, a whirlwind rushed towards her and Skipper.

"Duck!" she shouted, almost laughing inwardly at what she'd have said if the opponent was a farfetch'd. She pounced on Skipper to pin him down, but was dragged into the miniature tornado herself, only to be thrown back to the ground moments later. Zubat hovered about her, wings flapping furiously as ever.

The bat pokemon's nose tilted up, and Vera recognized the stance; Zubat was about to use tackle from the air! With a wave of her fluffy tail, the eevee jumped sideways, narrowly dodging Zubat's attack.

"Missed me! Missed me! Now you gotta kiss me!" she sang, trying her best to anger the foe. Maybe his attacks would miss more often the madder he was.

"You'll regret saying that, little punk!" the zubat retorted, closing in for a bite attack.

Vera wasn't quite fast enough to dodge that one completely, and her right ear was grazed by Zubat's fangs. "Ouch!" she yelped, before recovering her balance and pummeling the purple bat pokemon with her normal attack.

When at last the zubat was defeated, and lying unconscious on the ground, Skipper's treasure strewn on the ground, Vera was completely exhausted. Next to her, Skipper was breathing heavily, having just defeated Koffing. "Wow," he breathed, "I don't think I could have done that without you." Stumbling slightly, he went to retrieve his treasure.

"Well," Vera began, tossing her chin to appear confident and haughty, "I'm not Mr. Skipper's able-bodied right-hand-man for nothing, now am I?

And with that, the two pokemon raced back to the beach, glad to be over with that ordeal, and very proud to have beaten those bullies.

It was later than the two had suspected –boy does time fly!- and the sun was already beginning to set, throwing rays of rainbow-colored light through bubbles floating from the crabby on the cliffs. Vera and Skipper stared contemplatively at the red-orange sun as it sank beneath the horizon.

"S-say, Vera," Skipper started, stuttering madly, "T-thanks for helping me. I don't think I'd have even entered the beach cave without you there."

Smiling warmly, Vera accepted his thanks.

"Oh, um," the water-type continued, "D-do you have anywhere to go? I mean, you washed up here, so I don't know if you…"

_How sweet._ Vera shook her head. "I don't have anywhere to go, no, but that's alright. I'll figure something out. After all, I'm your right-hand-man!"

"No, no," Skipper stammered, "It's just, I-I was wondering if you'd help me with something else. It's a really big favor though, so I understand if you'd rather not."

"What is it?" Vera asked, thoroughly curious.

"Well, I actually came here to cheer myself up. You see, I've been trying to get an apprenticeship at the explorer's guild, but I never had the courage to do it."

Vera nodded, signaling for her friend to continue.

"But when you were there, I felt so much braver! It was like I could do anything! And so I thought maybe if you were with me, we could form an exploration team together."

Blinking, Vera looked back at the setting sun. Was he asking her to be an explorer? She didn't have a clue what she was doing in this strange place, and her memory didn't serve her as well as she would've liked. What to do? What to do?

"S-so um… Would you please form and exploration team with me?" Skipper asked. His eyes were on the verge of tears, and the hope on his face was so powerful. Vera couldn't very well say no to someone like that.

Grinning, Vera agreed, saying, "Of course! I'm not Mr. Skipper's able-bodied right-hand-man for nothing!"

**Afterword: Well, I hope you enjoyed! I decided to follow the cliche and novelize Explorers of Sky, but I will make lots of changes to the plot and boss battles, so be aware! Also, expect some evolutions at some point, because I really hate the whole no-evolution thing from the games...**

**Ciao! And thanks for reading!**


	2. Enter Ampharos and the Wigglytuff Guild

**Chapter 2:**

By the time Vera and Skipper finally reached the guild, the sun was just disappearing over the horizon, casting huge shadows around the strangely wigglytuff-shaped tent.

"How do they fit an entire guild in that little tent?" Vera wondered aloud, "And what's with the grate?"

Smiling sheepishly, Skipper replied that he honestly had no clue. Appearing confident, the mudkip stepped onto the grate. But Vera already knew him well enough to see him trembling atop the grate.

"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!" a loud, scratchy voice blared from nowhere.

Skipper nearly jumped out of his skin. "I knew it," he muttered under his breath, "I can't do this…"

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" the voice called again. Yeesh, where was it coming from?

"It's mudkip's footprint! It's mudkip's footprint!"

God that voice was annoying. Vera hoped she wouldn't ever have to listen to it again, but her hope dwindled when the obnoxious voice demanded that she step on the gate as well.

"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!"

Vera was suffering immensely, trying to hold back any snarky comments she might have. There were a billion complaints floating around in her mind, mostly about this dumb procedure and why he needed to repeat himself over and over again.

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" the voice shouted. It was still impossible to pinpoint.

"It's… It's eevee's footprint!"

"Say what?" shouted another voice. This one was even louder and more obnoxious than the first, despite how impossible that seemed.

"It's eevee's footprint!"

"An eevee? Since when did we see eevee around here?"

"I'm only telling you what I see, Loudred!" the voice replied.

"Fine, fine! I'll open the gate! Wait there, folks!"

With an ear-splitting squeal, the iron gate blocking the tent entrance folded underground. The louder voice commanded the two rookie pokemon to come in so he could get a better look at them.

"Oh wow," the loudred muttered when Skipper and Vera finally descended into the lower level, "It really is an eevee."

"What did I tell you?" the first voice yelled from somewhere.

"Oh shut up, Diglett!" Loudred shouted, breaking everyone's eardrums.

A small chime sound echoed in the room, after which a chimecho floated onto the scene. "Oh, new arrivals?" she asked, "Well, if you're planning on selling anything, I suggest you turn back. The guild is saving money for an expedition you see, so we haven't got the funds for anything fancy."

Vera seriously needed to groan; everyone here was so _weird_.

"U-um, we're not here to sell anything," Skipper corrected, "We actually want to be apprentices…"

As soon as he mentioned it, every guild member's face lit up with excitement. Whispers drifted around the room like wind through the trees, and the tension in the air was suffocating.

"Really?" Chimecho asked, "You should have said so sooner! I suppose we must get you off to the temporary guild leader now, shan't we?"

"Temporary?" Vera interjected, stopping Chimecho in her tracks.

"Oh, yes. Temporary." And that was that. Something in the air kept Vera from asking further questions. Maybe it was the sadness, or the hopelessness in everyone's eyes at the word 'temporary'.

"Ampharos! We have new pokemon wanting to join the guild!" Chimecho called before opening a door into a sparsely-decorated room. A large yellow pokemon sat on his haunches looking blankly out a window. Vera thought it funny that they could see outside from two stories underground.

"Um… Ampharos?"

"Oh, yes, I heard you Chimecho," Ampharos quickly recovered, "New arrivals? What a sight for sore eyes. All we've been getting lately is solicitors."

"Right, Sir."

"So, a mudkip and an eevee. Strange combination, that. I suppose you have a team name right? Wigglytuff was always one for team names."

Skipper stuttered madly, trying to express that he hadn't come up with anything of the sort. It hadn't even crossed his mind.

On the other hand, Vera needed to make a joke out of it. "Oh yes, we definitely have a team name. We're the quadrupeds."

Everyone in the room froze.

"Dang, you can't understand when I pull a joke?" she groaned. Maybe the atmosphere was a little _too_ tense for her antics. Turning to Skipper she said, "Well, you're the leader. Try and come up with something. And make it really cheesy." Smiling brightly, she waited for the mudkip to think up a name.

"Um… We're Team Relic Hunters," the shy mudkip stammered.

"Relic Hunters, eh?" mumbled Ampharos, "Well, Chimecho, get the kits." Turning back to the rookies, he announced, "From today until you finish apprenticeship, Team Relic Hunters will be part of the Wigglytuff Guild!"

Chimecho bustled back into the room. "Oh, it just isn't the same without Wigglytuff's great big YOOM-TAH, is it?"

"No," Ampharos agreed, "It really isn't."

But the bell-like pokemon quickly covered up her longing and set a small leather messenger bag in front of the two rookies. Vera immediately jumped to see what was in it, ignoring completely everything the temporary guild leader said. She was a little disappointed to find the bag empty, but recovered quickly knowing that it would hold lots of goodies later.

"And that's that," Ampharos said, dusting his paws off each other. "Chimecho, bring the badge please."

"Got it already," she announced, placing the small badge in front of Skipper, "The eevee said you were the leader, so if you'd please put your paw print on the badge, it would be much appreciated."

The mudkip smudged his print into the back of the badge before adorning their new bag with the piece. "Well now," Vera said cheerily, "What'll Skipper and his trusty right-hand-man do now?"

"What you'll do first," Ampharos said, getting straight to business, "Is learn from older guild members about life here. Bidoof will show you around."

Something akin to a cheer erupted from outside the guild master's room, but it sounded a little solitary. "I'm not the newest member anymore! Yup, yup!"

_Wow_, Vera thought, _Did that Bidoof really just say 'Yup, yup'?_ Her face must've looked a little weird because immediately after she screwed her face in reaction to Bidoof, Skipper asked her if she was okay.

"Oh yeah," she said, nodding knowingly, "I'm great." Still though, that Bidoof sounded a little… naïve.

While Vera paid very minimal attention to Bidoof's speeches about what was what and what was where, she did in fact marvel at the guild itself. The place was astounding, two whole stories and a sentry post, all underground, in a cliff! What element of that wasn't exciting? The rocky walls had plaster covering them, and there were even a few scrawls of ink near the floor, making Vera wonder if the place had been a daycare or something once upon a time. The bamboo ladders looked pretty impossible to climb, even though Vera had already descended with them once, and she had to admit it was pretty cool to look out the window on the lowest floor. Vera agreed with Bidoof and Skipper that Croagunk was more than a little creepy with his big pot-thing, and whatever purple steam drifting out looked a bit sinister. Hopefully there was good ventilation here.

When all introductions were done, and the sumptuous dinner of berries and whatnot had been served, Skipper and Vera wandered to their room for a good night's sleep. Vera's belly was silent and full as she listened to Skipper talk about how excited he was.

"I hope we get to help lots of pokemon," he said sleepily, "and maybe we'll find out about your memories too. Maybe even something about my relic fragment."

**Afterword: Urg, I know there's not much action. But at least it's already deviating from the original story line! Please rate and review; I'm not going to get any better without anyone to tell me what I'm doing wrong!**


End file.
